High Pressure SCBA bottle for filling tires (1 Viewer)

[Rrb1981]

Has anyone ever used a 3,000 to 4,500 psig SCBA bottle (or CO2 bottle) as a means of filling tires on long road trips?

I was looking at purchasing one of those PCP air rifles and see that you can buy a small electric compressor to charge the bottles (up to 4,500 psi). That got me thinking, could I carry a small bottle on my rig with a regulator and a hose to fill tires?

Obviously, it is critical to have a functioning regulator or else the tire will be the least of your worries.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Pretty common set up at one time, Powertank was a big maker of them. Don't know if they're as common any more with the cost of small 12v compressors being so cheap now - no need to fill tank, 10 yr. testing, etc.

 

[js47]

I’ve used my 3000psi AL80 tanks to fill up tires using my regular scuba first stage regulator...but only when I already had my them with me in my trunk. Otherwise I have a Viair 88p compressor that takes up way less space!

 

[e9999]

I've done it with CO2. The main advantage of the tank for many is probably how quickly you can fill the tires vs having to wait for an electric compressor to do the job. But the tank size is a serious disadvantage, even with CO2. Now, if you had a smaller bottle that was still big enough to do the job for, say, one fill, that would be better. But if it's really only one fill, that may be an issue too in that there is no backup. And it'd be expensive to refill.

Having said all that, AFAIK the situation is very different with air in that it will stay in gas form whereas the CO2 goes liquid at high pressure, so you can store much less air in a tank than CO2 at the same high pressure, so to speak. So you need a bigger tank. Which is probably why I don't think that is done much. Should be easy to figure out how big a tank you'll need as it is just a ratio of pressures and volumes.

Might be interesting to try bottled air, but a small portable electric compressor is the way to go for me.

 

[rrc swb]

Fairly common in the offroad world... The most popular brand is Power Tank.

I personally prefer an air compressor.